


Nineteen Sixty-Nine

by cnoocy



Category: Hotel California - The Eagles (Song)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-02
Updated: 2015-06-02
Packaged: 2018-04-02 11:04:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4057627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cnoocy/pseuds/cnoocy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Hey y'all, it's almost midnight," I said to the rest of the microbus, leaning away from the steering wheel. "I'm completely beat, and I see a hotel up the road. What do y'all say to actually stopping at a hotel for a night, or even a few?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nineteen Sixty-Nine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thinlizzy2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thinlizzy2/gifts).



"Hey y'all, it's almost midnight," I said to the rest of the microbus, leaning away from the steering wheel. "I'm completely beat, and I see a hotel up the road. What do y'all say to actually stopping at a hotel for a night, or even a few?"

"Sounds good to me," said Zacchaeus. I stole a glance at his afro blowing dramatically in the air from the window.

"We still have some of that peyote we bought in El Paso from that guy on the side of the road," said Moonflower. "We could just drive into the desert and take it." 

Veracity gave him a sleepy punch in the shoulder. "We have some money from selling the rest of that peyote in Phoenix," she said. "I'm with Capricorn. Let's spend a little of it on real beds and real showers." She turned to the Lizard, who was still staring out the window. "Hey, man. Hotel or desert?"

"Hotel, man," the Lizard said, still looking out the window. "We can do the desert later."

Four to one sounded decisive to me. I pulled the microbus into the parking lot. We piled out and shook ourselves awake enough to get ourselves moving. I looked back down the road at my namesake glittering in the sky over the southern horizon. A flash of red caught my eye, but when I turned it was just the Lizard spinning around in his Hawaiian shirt.

A bell was ringing in the distance as we wrestled our bags to the door. We expected to have to knock and wake people up to get them to let us in, but the door opened before we got there. We looked up at the flood of light from the doorway at a statuesque woman's silhouette. "Welcome," she said. 

Moon, Zac, and the Lizard all straightened up and started walking more quickly to the door. Veracity and I stopped and gave each other the look. "Come on, Capri," she said, "we don't want the boys to forget we're out here." As we shouldered our bags, I saw the NO light turn on next to the VACANCY sign behind her back.

I figured we'd have to split two rooms, but the night man wouldn't hear of it. "Relax," he said. "We wouldn't dream of crowding you." He gathered our bags onto a cart and followed behind us as our hostess walked down the hall lighting candles and showing us to our rooms. As I staggered to my bed, I failed to realize they hadn't asked us about money, or even our names.

I woke up to music. Its odd rhythm throbbed through the walls of my dimly lit room. I thought I was back at Texas Pop for a full minute, and wondered where everyone was. Then I rolled onto my back and saw a woman lying on the ceiling, twenty feet above my head. "Am I tripping?" I asked myself. "Did we take that peyote?" Thinking about the peyote unlocked the memories of our arrival, and I remembered where I was. 

Knowing I was in a hotel, I was able to recognize the yawning woman on the ceiling as myself, reflected in a mirror. "Hello, Capricorn," I told her. "What are you doing on the ceiling?" She asked me the same thing, so I thought about it. When it occurred to me why someone might want a mirror on the ceiling, I watched ceiling-me turn bright red. "Don't be such a square, Capri," I said, and got out of the bed to investigate the room.

The room was big, and very fancy. The windows were still dark. The carpet was thick, and it felt nice on my feet as I found out what the various doors were. The closet had been hung with my clothes, which had been cleaned and dried. Some of those clothes hadn't been clean since two months ago in Atlanta. There were also hotel bathrobes, so I grabbed one and continued to the bathroom, which actually contained a bath, as well as a separate shower. I skipped the bath for now, and took a quick shower. I threw on my batik sundress and went to look for my friends.

The woman from the door was walking down the hallway. "Excuse me," I said. "Do you know where my friends are?"

"I just saw them on the balcony," she said, pointing behind her. "Just walk around that corner and take a left." We continued off in opposite directions.

The balcony overlooked a party in the courtyard. My friends were sitting at a table passing a joint around. There was music playing on some speakers, but I didn't recognize the band. "How long was I out?" I asked them.

Zac passed me the joint. "I don't know, man," he said. "I took a little nap, and then I came out here. The Lizard was talking with our hostess, and she gave him the Mary Jane you're enjoying. Then she went off to her boys." He nodded down toward the young men dancing energetically to the music. I was surprised to see the woman down there. Hadn't she just been in the hall?

"This is hers?" Veracity looked at the joint I'd just passed her. "I figured it was from our stash. That's very neighborly of her." She giggled.

I leaned back and looked at the sky. It looked strange, unfamiliar in some way. I frowned, then shrugged. "They're very hospitable here." I turned as a man in uniform approached our table.

"Good evening, and welcome, welcome!" The man leaned over our table, shaking our hands in quick succession. He had a smile that I'd seen on TV. "I'm the captain here, and I just want to introduce myself and let all of you know that my staff is here to get you whatever you need. Anything, anything at all, just find a member of my staff or call from any house phone, and we'll make sure you get it. Anything!" He bowed himself back into the building.

Moonflower looked at us. "Anything?" He got up and found a man in uniform just through the balcony door. "Excuse me, sir. We'd like five filet mignons, cooked medium rare, a magnum of Dom Perignon, and 5 doses of Sandoz LSD." 

"Very good, sir," the man replied. "May I recommend the '59 Rosé? It should complement the meat." 

"Oh, of course, of course."

He came back to the table chuckling, but he got quiet a bit later when the same man led in waiters carrying steaming plates, an ice bucket with a big bottle in it, and a small glass bottle that I'd heard described by long-term veterans of the acid scene. We tucked into the steaks first. We'd been passing a joint around and were all pretty hungry. We laughed as we poured the champagne, and took the pills while lying on the balcony floor, staring at the stars.

At that point, there's a lot of holes in my memory. I remember coming down off that trip, gazing at the strange stars and listening to the music. I remember that Veracity and Moonflower got into a competition trying to stump the staff, and that neither of them won. I remember that I finally got Zac into bed with me after a summer of trying, and got to see first-hand why someone might want mirrors on the ceiling. I remember that whenever and wherever I woke up, there were clean clothes waiting for me. I don't remember seeing daylight at any time. I don't remember ever feeling too cold or too warm.

I think what finally brought me back to myself was a vague feeling in the back of my mind that I hadn't seen the Lizard in a while. I was still pretty high, though, so at first I just kept contemplating the borders of the pale spot on Zac's foot. He didn't usually like people staring at it, but he was asleep, so I kept doing it. The spot looked like a shoreline, like some place where sailors from a dark brown land might set forth on a milky sea. I thought about the sailors, who all looked like Zacchaeus, calling to each other as they prepared the ships. I imagined the boxes of cargo, spices and gold, waiting to be loaded. I imagined the small creatures running around on the ropes and sunning themselves on the tops of the crates. Scaly lizards of many colors... hadn't I just been thinking about lizards? Missing lizards? No, the Lizard. I hadn't seen him in a while. Where was he? I got up, put on some jeans and a T-shirt, and went to look. 

My first stop was his room, but not only was he not in it, it was empty and clean, like he'd never been there. Maybe he had changed rooms? That didn't seem like something he'd do. Even if he did share a wall with Zac. I blushed, then shook my head. The Lizard. I went out to the balcony. The stars were shining. So bright, so intriguing. Veracity and Moonflower were lying there, looking up at them. I put my  
hands on the railing to get down and join them.

That's when I saw him. He was down in the courtyard. He was wearing different clothes, and his hair had been cut, but he was the same guy who'd put our tent up at every campsite across the South. He still had the burn on his hand from the hot grill outside Meridian. I called to him, but he didn't seem to hear me. I even tried calling him Stephen, but he was totally checked out. I turned to my friends. "V! Moon! The Lizard is down in the courtyard. How do I get down there?"

They stared at me. "It's just the courtyard," said Veracity. "It's got the music and the dancing. Why don't you come down here and listen to the stars with us? They want to take us on a journey."

Clearly my friends were not going to be much help. I looked down from the balcony to the stone tiles below. I knew that the drugs were making it look farther away than it was, but I was still pretty sure that I would get injured if I jumped it. And though sometime recently there had been enough cocaine in me to try it anyway, that wasn't the case anymore. I went to look for some stairs or for someone to help.

The house phone shone in the center of my tunnel vision like some ant-hunting insect from my tenth-grade Biology textbook. I stepped up to it slowly, fearful that the floor would slip out from under me and send me sliding into its maw. I picked up the headset and held it to my ear. 

"Good evening, Ms. Capricorn. What may we get for you?"

It had never occurred to me before how creepy it was that they always knew who was calling. "Yes, my friend is in the courtyard and I need to get him out. How do I get to him?"

"Mr. The Lizard has become a friend of the establishment, I mean of the hostess. He is not to be disturbed."

I thought for a minute. I was in no condition to be arguing with anyone. "Well, he's, he's already disturbed, and I want to talk to the captain! Yeah!" I think I meant to say that last word to myself.

"I'll fetch him. Just a moment." The music started playing through the phone. I tried to tap my feet along with it, but the beat was too complex. It went back and forth between little runs of three and big beats of two, and I got dizzy and had to hold on to the wall. The music stopped and I heard the captain's voice. "Hello, Ms. Capricorn."

I blinked twice, and remembered why I had called. "The Lizard is in the courtyard and I need him out. Neeeed. That's what you said, anything I need. I need him back, so please bring him to me."

The captain chuckled at the other end of the line. "I admire your spirit, Ms. Capricorn, but I don't think that's true. You would certainly like Mr. The Lizard back, you may even want him back, but you don't need him. There are even some substances in a tray next to your bed that would allow you to stop worrying about him indefinitely. If there's anything else you require, please contact my staff. Good evening." The line went dead.

"Yeah, well, uh, fuck you!" I yelled into the silent phone. My mind raced, mostly in circles. If you have ever been in a very stressful situation, and thought to yourself that it would be easier if you were very high, let me tell you from experience that you are wrong. I was miles high, and there was a lot of stress, and it was not in any way easy. I sat down in the hall and tried to think through what I needed to do.

Okay. Okay. Okay. We need to get out of here. We need to get the Lizard. If we can. We need to figure out what's up with this hotel. We need to get the Lizard. I said that one already. Okay. All of this we stuff means we're together. Zac is in his room. V and Moon are on the balcony. They were at least semiconscious when I saw them. 

I got up and went to the balcony. They were still there, mumbling to each other about the stars. I grabbed their hands. "Hey, Capri, what's happening?" asked V. "Are you coming to the stars with us? You should be there already, but you're not. I looked for you and you're not there. None of your star friends are there." She started giggling. 

It was infectious, and I started giggling too. "That's great, that's great, V. Now let's go rap with Zac, okay?" I leaned back against the railing, and they slowly got up. We walked down the hall, bouncing off the walls occasionally. When we got to Zac's room, they flopped onto the bed with him and fell asleep. At least they were all in the same place. 

Now to find the Lizard. I wasn't just going to let this place have him. I went back down the hall, looking for the place we'd come in when we first arrived. The hall didn't have the shape I remembered, so I walked around confused for a little bit. Then I tried always going left. That took me back to the front desk, but the door was closed. I tried to open it, and the night man was at my side almost immediately. 

"I wouldn't do that," he said. "It's colder out there than you think."

I gave it a pull anyway. It was solid as stone. "Can you let me out?" I asked.

He put a hand on my shoulder. "Even if it were safe, I couldn't. I'm only here to let people in. Can I get you something to help you relax?" 

I thought about trying to convince him, but I'd learned from my debate with the captain. "No thanks, I'll just find my way back." I turned quickly away from him, then waited for the dizziness to pass. I looked back at the hall. There was an unlabeled door next to the hallway. I waited until the night man looked away, and tried it. The door opened and I slipped through.

The other side of the door didn't look like a hotel. It looked like a military base or something. I had a momentary vision that I was about to be attacked by guards, but nobody came. I took a deep breath to get my heart rate down, found a door, and went inside.

The room was cold, and I shivered, but my head felt a little clearer. It was large, with a big square machine in the middle of the floor. A few bright lights blinked on the side, like the world's least interesting Christmas tree. There were desks against the walls, with a television set and an electric typewriter on each one. The machine had a door on the side, so I walked over and opened it up. 

I had no idea what this machine did, but it was clearly even more Jerry-rigged than our microbus. There were lines of tubing with brightly colored fluid, but there were bubbles in the fluid that made them sputter like the straw at the end of a milkshake. There were beams of light, but some of them were shining on mirrors and prisms, and others were bouncing through antique pieces of stained glass. And the machinery was slipping in some way, like the beat from the music; it cranked along for a few groups of three, then thudded back into a couple groups of two. It was spectacular, and if it wasn't for the cool air, I would have just blissed out there forever. Instead, I was turning back towards the room when the door opened and the woman came in. She looked the same as when we arrived. Not a hair on her head or a piece of clothing was out of place.

"What are you doing in here?" she asked. 

I went up to her and gave her a hug. Love your enemies, right? "I'm just putting the pieces together." I'm pretty short, and I only came up to her chin. She patted my back, confused by the affection, then released me. I stepped back to the machine and stuck my entire right arm in. "Now let my friends and me go, or I'll play Samson on your insides."

She stopped dead, then tossed her head. "What do you mean? That's just a, an air conditioner."

"I didn't know robots from space could get nervous. Now turn on whatever gateway you used to bring us here and let us back out the front door."

"You can't possibly understand what you're talking about. Your species took its first steps onto another world just weeks ago."

"Unfamiliar stars in the sky. Matter manipulation to create food, drink, and drugs. The vacuum of space outside the front door. A central computer room. And a mechanical music I can hear everywhere, an off-kilter rhythm that happens to match – your – heartbeat.” She stared at me in robotic shock, but she didn’t interrupt, so I kept talking. “We may have just gotten to the moon, sister, but I’ve been watching Star Trek since junior high!” I grabbed a prism from the machine at random. She jumped, but she didn't collapse. I put it in my pocket. “You can get this back when we’re standing outside.” She nodded and left the room.

I found a trash can under one of the desks and vomited into it. That speech had taken everything I had. I wiped my mouth and went to the front door. It was open, and the moon shone down on my friends sitting groggily on the ground next to the very dusty microbus. I stepped out, took the prism from my pocket, and tossed it to the woman in the door. She caught it, and the entire place disappeared in a flash of shimmering light.

Two days later, we sat on the star map next to the Hoover Dam. The Lizard was still fairly tuned out, but he had shown some improvement, and we were hopeful for more. Zac ran his fingers through my hair. "Do you think she'll be back?" he asked.

I stretched, enjoying the cool of the marble under my legs. "Probably. But I bet she'll be more careful from now on." I got up and looked to the north. "Come on. I want to get to Zion before sunset." As we walked back to the microbus, I hummed an off-kilter tune to myself. Maybe I'll go on to college in the new year, study astronomy or something. Somebody's got to keep an eye on people like that.


End file.
